


Bring Me A Storm

by MissRomanceJunkie



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ambiguous Mission Objective, First Meetings, Gen, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Prompt Fill, Summer Rain, Tumblr Prompt, Vigilante Clint Barton, Vigilante James "Bucky" Barnes, Vigilante Natasha Romanov, tony is tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 04:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11959947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissRomanceJunkie/pseuds/MissRomanceJunkie
Summary: Another rumble sounded out as James crouched low and prepared for a surprise attack. He'd incapacitate the Hydra agents first, then deal with Stark. Their original plan had probably been to continue to tail Stark to a quieter part of town, like James had been planning to do, but neither party could take that risk now. It would take them less than a second to eliminate Stark the moment he stepped foot into the alleyway, ensuring they not only rid themselves of a recurring thorn in their side but that they were the ones to receive the bounty placed on Stark by the kingpins of New York’s underground.James couldn’t let that happen, which left him with only one move to make.Written for the anonymous Tumblr prompt: Winteriron, summer rain.





	Bring Me A Storm

**Author's Note:**

> So I was halfway through writing this when I realised that the scenario I was building to couldn't really be classed as summer rain. However, I think I still managed to get that "summer rain" feeling across, I hope so anyway. Thanks for the prompt anon! Don't ask me how summer rain led to assassination attempts in my mind though... XD
> 
> Title inspired by the quote: "They will bring me storms and I will drink the rain and dance with the lightning. I am no weak flower." - Erin Van Vuren
> 
> Enjoy! :)

It was 3pm exactly and if the intel he’d been given was correct, and lives would be lost if it wasn’t, then his target would be walking out of the west entrance within the next ten minutes.

He knew that up on top of the building opposite was the second best sniper their group had to offer, one of the top ten in the world. Another agent was blending in nearby, her ability to adapt and her lethal skills made her an invaluable member of the team when things went tits up and today, there was a pretty good chance that was exactly the way things would go. Aptly codenamed Hawkeye and Black Widow, they would be his eyes and ears as he carried out today’s mission.

He couldn’t think of two better people to have at his back today, although it had taken a long time for him to develop enough trust that he stopped turning around to check. His own codename was equally well chosen; The Winter Soldier sounded as cold and alone as James Buchanan Barnes had been until not too long ago, not to mention deadly. Their beloved Captain was sitting this one out as it required more stealth than the golden Adonis was capable of in a city like New York, but James knew that his old friend had his own ways to monitor their mission’s progress.

“Winter, it’s about time you get into position,” Widow’s voice came through crystal clear over their comms.

“You know, anyone would think you’re the one in charge of this mission,” Hawkeye spoke quietly, his voice slightly muffled by his arm, no doubt, as he watched everything carefully through the scope of his sniper rifle.

“Can it you two. Just because I’m not Cap, don’t think I’m going to let you two run riot,” James bantered back. It came easily now, the to and fro between teammates, between friends. For a moment James reviewed everything he knew about their target and wondered if the man had anyone he actually called friend.

Considering the reason James and his team were there, the odds weren’t looking good.

James had already moved into the shadows, the smell of rubbish and rot thick in his nostrils in the sticky heat of the summer heatwave the city was currently trying to survive. He was nowhere near comfortable in his black leathers but if the people here thought this was hard going, they should try vacationing in Afghanistan in summer. Then again, at least you don’t get the humidity there.

“Movement on the second floor.” Silence fell for a moment while they waited for confirmation. “It’s Stark. As expected, Potts isn’t with him, in fact he’s completely alone. You’d think a guy that well known would at least keep a couple of bodyguards around him right?” Hawkeye continued but his comment went unanswered as James pulled out his gun and Widow moved out to cover the surrounding area, trusting James to take care of business while she cleared their exit route.

Looked like the information they’d discovered was accurate. Today was the last day Tony Stark would be attending the conference and the best chance anyone had of taking him out. Now it was just a matter of who got to him first. James considered his team lucky that Stark’s aversion to the limelight lately meant that he was using an employee exit that came out into an alley. Hopefully, they could pull this off nice and quietly and no one would be any the wiser.

The loud rumble of thunder rolled its way across the space around him, echoing against the high walls in the enclosed space and James couldn’t believe he’d missed the flash. A sudden thunderstorm was not what they needed right now but if their luck continued to hold out, maybe it would just keep on rolling and pass them by.

Of course luck wasn’t something any of them depended on in this business.

“Looks like Hydra’s finally making their move,” Widow said and there was no mistaking the sound of a neck being broken. “They’re going to have men already inside too.”

“They won’t do anything while he’s still in the hotel,” James spoke quietly, expecting Stark to step out of the doorway beside him any moment now.

The possibility that other teams would attempt to infiltrate the hotel, like most possibilities they could think of, had been discussed in length and plans had been made accordingly.

Escaping any hotel in a hurry was always a messy business and since security was tighter than ever in there right now for the conference, they’d have to be pretty stupid to try anything on the premises. Hydra was many things but stupid wasn’t one of them. Any teams that actually were stupid enough to try it had been swiftly dealt with in the previous days, either by the security staff or by James’ team while they’d been doing their own recon.

Nothing was going to stop them from completing their mission.

“Two guys are tailing him through the building.” Hawkeye was the only one with thermal tech; he loved his gadgets, whereas James and Widow agreed tech mostly just slowed them down. Those kinds of differences were probably why they worked so well as a team though, they fit together like jigsaw pieces, each filling in a part the others were missing. “Ten seconds and counting.”

Another rumble sounded out as James crouched low and prepared for a surprise attack. He'd incapacitate the Hydra agents first, then deal with Stark. Their original plan had probably been to continue to tail Stark to a quieter part of town, like James had been planning to do, but neither party could take that risk now. After Widow’s intervention elsewhere, Hydra must have realised by now that there’s another player in the game. It would take them less than a second to eliminate Stark the moment he stepped foot into the alleyway, ensuring they not only rid themselves of a recurring thorn in their side but that they were the ones to receive the bounty placed on Stark by the kingpins of New York’s underground.

James couldn’t let that happen, which left him with only one move to make.

Time seemed to stretch in the next few moments but in reality, only a couple of seconds must have passed by.

Stark, in a perfectly tailored pinstripe suit, walked out of the door with his head held high and sunglasses firmly in place like he wasn’t stepping out into several weeks worth of filth without a care in the world. He was followed by a 20-something blonde maid and a slightly older, friendly looking bellhop and if James hadn’t known what they really were, even he would have hesitated in his movements as the maid reached out like she was calling Stark’s attention to something he’d left in his room.

As it was, James had a very intimate knowledge of how Hydra recruits were trained and precisely what they were capable of so he managed to catch the woman's wrist in a tight grip way before the needle made it anywhere near Stark’s neck. He wasted no time in wrapping his other hand around the woman's mouth, thankful for the extra seconds that choosing the right side of the door had given him to eliminate the immediate threat. He used her body to swing himself around to kick the other agent hard enough in the stomach to make him stagger back away from Stark who had turned around as he caught on to the commotion behind him.

Dead bodies on the hotel’s door step were only mildly better than in the building itself but at least it was easier to get clear and leaving Hydra agents around, even incapacitated, was never a good idea. Although Hydra would probably clean up their own mess before anyone got close enough to call the police anyway.

“What the hell-”

“Get down!” James pushed Stark by the shoulder towards the garbage bins for cover as the remaining goon got his legs back under him and pulled out a gun complete with a silencer. James pulled his own gun out and laid out some cover fire for them to keep moving down the alley towards the main road.

“We need to keep moving. Widow, status!” The shots being fired seemed to be fueling the coming storm, a dark symphony only the damned could appreciate.

“Busy right now, Hydra’s brought along some friends you wouldn’t expect.”

“A.I.M by any chance?” James asked as he dragged a surprisingly compliant billionaire around a corner and straight into a hail of bullets.

“This way!” Stark shouted and pulled James down another route in the maze of alleyways. “If the guys shooting at us are who you think they are then we really need to get out of here. Who are you by the way?”

“James. And you’re Tony Stark,” James said without thinking as they continued to tug each other down passages while avoiding speeding bullets.

“James huh? Thought you were supposed to say Bond first. You know, keep up the tall, dark and mysterious thing you’ve got going on.”

James would have laughed if they weren’t slowly being penned in, like livestock towards the slaughterhouse.

“We’re being led to exactly where they want us,” James realised and pulled his quarry to a stop in a nearby doorway. There were gnawed on blankets piled up in the corner and James spared a second to hope that whatever homeless person had called this doorway home for a night wasn’t coming back anytime soon.

The silence over the comms after the last few minutes of battle was ominous but James couldn’t do anything for his teammates right now. Besides, Widow and Hawkeye had been working together a lot longer than their group had been in existence. If they had managed to meet up, they had their own ways of communicating without sound.

“Get behind me Stark, right into the corner. Don’t know about you but I’m tired of dancing to their tune, how about we go on the offensive? You know how to use one to these I presume?” James asked with a smirk as he handed Stark one of his guns.

“Been a while but it’s the kind of thing you don’t forget how to do. Like riding a bike. Or pole-dancing. And guys who stick their neck out to save me get to call me Tony.” Tony’s eyes sparkled with mirth and just a hint of interest if James was reading things right.

“How do you know I’m not here to kill you too?” James asked, deadly serious. Tony watched him with keener eyes than James would have expected but the return of gunfire forced them to break the rising tension; apparently the agents surrounding them had decided to drop the pretense and just launch a full frontal assault on them.

Keeping his charge behind him hadn’t lasted longer than the time it took for James to realise Tony’s shooting skills were better than the guys firing at them. A quick nudge and they were tucked in either side of the doorway covering their lines of sight past the opposite corner.

“You’re going to an awful lot of trouble to keep me alive if you’re just going to turn around and kill me later,” Tony shouted over the racket. “My working theory is that you’re a mercenary and the people you’re working for want me alive. Obviously they haven’t gotten the memo Hydra and A.I.M have; I don’t play well in confinement. In fact, I tend to make things go boom and escape, leaving a notable absence of living captors behind me.”

“Not a bad theory,” James said and the stiffening of Tony’s shoulders told him the billionaire had been ready for his words to be confirmed, “but you’re wrong.”

James ducked low as heavy bullets caused shards of brick to rain down on him. Tony took a step forward to lean around and take the guy out and then there was silence. Both men looked at each other, waiting for another wave. There must have only been around ten men in all but James felt lucky as Hell to be alive. It had been a long time since he’d been pinned in one spot like that and it wasn’t a fond memory.

“Should we move?” Tony asked as he brushed off his suit and tucked the borrowed gun in his belt.

“Widow, Hawk, you guys done?” There would be more agents on their way, neither HYDRA nor A.I.M would let this opportunity go until Tony was securely out of their reach. They had to get back to headquarters.

“Wido-”

“We’re fine,” Hawkeye’s voice came over the comm just as clear as always.

“Hey, who are you- Oh, is that one of mine?” Tony asked as he pulled the comm out of James’ ear and fiddled with it for a second. “There we are.”

“Winter?” Hawkeye asked and somehow Tony had put the comm on loud speaker.

“Huh. Yeah, it’s me, we’re good. We can both hear you now.”

“Both? You’ve got the target?”

Tony did very well to hide his flinch but his face said it all. James may have denied Tony’s theory but he wouldn’t get out of providing a real answer sometime soon.

“Target acquired,” Tony said with a smirk. What an interesting life he must have led to be able to pull himself together so quickly. “I’ve always wanted to say that. Tony Stark, nice to meet you…” Tony extended the “u” until Hawkeye responded with his call sign. “Hawkeye. Nice to meet you Hawkeye. I’m guessing you’re a sniper then? Or a scout?”

“Bit of both, more of another,” Hawkeye responded ambiguously but James could tell he’d been pulled in by Tony’s abundant charm already. “Widow’s here but, err, would rather not add to the discussion.”

James got the message. Widow and Tony had history, although it was unknown to James as it was before his return to America, back when SHIELD was still a thing.

“You need to change location, they’re almost on you.”

James was moving before the sentence was done, the sudden change in Hawkeye’s voice enough to grab his attention and make him heed the suggestion. A sudden flash had them drawing their guns and ducking into a side street and James wasn’t sure whether to be thankful for the thunder that followed it or not. The sudden release in tension between the two men gave HYDRA more seconds to catch up but James had Tony by the hand and running again just in the nick of time as bullets hit the wall where they’d been standing.

“Keep going!” James shouted as he pushed Tony forward and spun around into a crouch in one move, firing at the two men who came around the corner first.

“No way,” Tony muttered and hauled James up by the shoulder, the gun in his other hand up and trained on the corner, ready for the next pursuer. However, after a few seconds the street was still quiet. The two James got must have been fast runners.

“Let’s go.”

James grabbed Tony’s hand again even though it impeded movement and reaction time; Tony definitely seemed to be the type to take advantage of any situation and James didn’t want him slipping away when he thought he could. Once they were at headquarters, he would explain everything. Right now, he just need to get Tony to a safe place.

As they ran, the heavens finally opened and he caught the sound of laughter as he pulled Stark along behind him, eventually ducking into another alleyway when he developed a strong enough belief that they’d lost Hydra.

He’d have to thank Hawkeye and Widow later.

“You alright?” James asked when he realised Tony hadn’t stopped laughing and the sound was becoming slightly hysterical. The genius had his head tilted up towards the sky and James didn’t know him well enough to interpret his expression but he had the feeling it was one James himself had worn many times.

“This isn’t your fault,” James said which was entirely not what he’d planned to say but now that he had, he realised exactly what emotion was overwhelming Tony. “This isn’t some karmic punishment. This is just some really bad guys wanting to kill someone who’s trying their damndest to do some good in this shitty world.”

Tony didn’t reply but his laughter eventually died down.

Tony cleared his throat and James would swear that was a blush spreading across the other man’s cheeks so beautifully.

“So where do we go from here?” Tony asked and his eyes pulled James in until he had to restrain himself from taking a step closer to him.

“Should only take us half an hour to get to home base if we can find a car to hotwire,” James said, still holding Tony’s gaze, no gunfire to interrupt him getting his fill this time. “We’ve got a lot to talk about but I promise no harm will come to you and if you don’t like what we have to say, we’ll give you a ride back to your tower in the morning.”

Tony nodded slowly. “I guess it’s the least I can do to hear you out. And if I do like what you have to say?” Tony asked.

“Then we’ll be spending a whole lot more time together, Doll, and maybe instead of a ride home, you’ll let me take you to breakfast instead,” Bucky replied, letting a touch of Brooklyn seep into his voice. His ma always said you never get anything in life if you’re not willing to open your mouth and ask for it.

Tony laughed, his mouth wide with genuine amusement, which had been James’ main objective despite recalling his mother’s words. Although they were still far from safe, he knew his team had his back and the adrenaline was leaving the two of them quickly. He needed to keep their spirits up as they moved forward.

“I think you’re right,” Tony said with a smile, looking towards the sky again as the downpour continued, “we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

~fin~

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, kudos and comments are love! Let me know what you thought. :)
> 
> Feel free to drop me a line/give me a prompt over on Tumblr [here](https://missromancejunkie.tumblr.com/ask).


End file.
